What is the difference between a tactical nuke and a strategic nuke?
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2davidc8 (
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October 11th, 2022
Both kinds are frequently mentioned in connection with the war in Ukraine, but what’s the diff?
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Tactical nuclear weapons are mobile, shorter-ranged, and have less destructive warheads. They’re designed to be used on the front lines of a war zone, on enemy armies, and/or to create zones where it would be difficult and dangerous to move through.
Strategic nuclear weapons are often immobile (but some are mobile, e.g. in submaries), very long-ranged, and have very destructive warheads, and are designed to intimidate enemies into never attacking you, doing what you want, and/or to give you an ironic sense of safety, and hopefully dissuade anyone from using nuclear weapons on you, because you’d theoretically then use yours on them. They’re designed to be able to destroy entire cities or regions, wipe out infrastructure, and/or destroy enemy nuclear weapons, and/or cause electronics-destroying electromagnetic pulses over vast areas.
What is the difference between a tactical nuke and a strategic nuke?
A tactical nuke is a smaller nuclear weapon that is used on the battlefield to target enemy troops or military targets such as airfields or naval bases.
They are delivered by normal weapons systems such as artillery or aircraft and are usually of lower yield than strategic nukes. In contrast, strategic nukes are larger and are designed to be used against high-value targets such as ports, military bases, command and control centers, or enemy nuclear missiles.
They are typically used to break down the enemy’s ability to wage war and are often targeted at civilians as well.
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